Gbye grey sky Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 We are migrating in July (me, wife and 11 year old daughter). We are all English though my wife has Oz citizenship from living and working in Oz through the 90s. We met in 2003 by which time she had no Oz accent though does have the curious Oz way of making sentences sound like a question. She tells me she developed an Oz accent in the 90s but lost it again after a couple of years back in the UK. I have lived in the provincial south east of England all my life and have no regional accent at all. My daughter asks me how long it will be before she sounds Australian. I reckon about a year give her age and peer pressure to fit in (is that about right?). But I wonder when I may adapt my speech (I am 54 btw). I have this theory that people with strong regional UK and Irish accents are more likely to retain their original accent whereas those that don't more quickly adopt the accent of the country where they live. We have decided to make a recording of each of us talking between now and leaving to look back on one day (for a laugh). Would be interested in hearing real-life experiences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelensvaleHoward Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 We've been hear over 4 years and no Aussie accents at all Just use more of the Aussie terms D-a-ta, flick an email, and lots I use to wind up the Aussies lol I tend to hear more put on accents than real true accents and most sound American lol But I am a true Yorkshireman with a broad Yorkshire accent and over here they love it and most think I'm from Scotland which always makes me laugh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramot Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Been here 12 years and not lived in Uk for over 20, no mistaking my accent as determined to keep my English one. quite funny some times as I'm sure I get treated as a visitor quite often, and there is a change in attitude when I mention I am local, to be honest a change for the better, but I do live in a touristy area, the Sunshine Coast. It amazes me when I ask someone mainly with a strong Scottish accent how long they have lived here, and it can be as long as 40 years. I think children pick up local accents quickly, could be to fit in, I know mine did while we moved around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Strong accents do seem to stay with you, especially for adults. There is no denying that after almost 9 years here i still sound Northern, i may have picked up a twang, had to slowww down my sentances down a bit,lol, and tend to use 'aussie' words a lot of the time rather than the Northern equivalents i came here using but i doubt i will ever sound pure Aussie. Hubby is the same as me pretty much. My 16 yr old still has his Northern accent but has picked up quite a noticeable Aussie twang. My 11 yr old ,sounds pure Aussie and despite (obviously) listening to us day in day out ,she really struggles with understanding rellies when they are on the phone. I do think the younger you are when you move the more likely you are to lose your accent with time. Cal x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the bottler Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 still sound British but it has only been 16 months ... love the way they say " bash and thump " mostly about sport ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEM44 Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 I think it depends on the person. I used to have a very thick local accent which I lost quickly many years ago when we moved to the USA as no one could understand me. I moved back to the UK with an American accent. We then moved to New Zealand and again I returned to the UK with a bit of a mix. I'm now 41 and will be 42 when we move but I'm super worried and here's why.... I have a tendency (and even do it here with people from the USA and NZ (Oz too) without realising I mimick their accents, I think I just fall back into the habit from years ago. It's awful because I don't notice that I do it, but my kids do and think I'm crazy, then I panic incase the person I'm talking to notices and just thinks im down right rude!!! So so it just depends on the person I guess?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLoadedDog Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Aussie born and bred, and not only do other Aussies ask me where I'm from (had everything from Irish to Russian), as I have to consciously sound Australian if I want to (useful for not getting beaten up in rural places ), I've found I pick up accents to the ridiculous point that, after even only a day working with, say, a Scot or a Kiwi, I'll be sounding so much like them that they'll suspect I'm taking the mick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rossmoyne Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Been here 24 years.... and have been told recently I sound very English.... but last week welcomed friends here from UK who said how Australian I sounded..... Whatever! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Que Sera Sera Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 I sound Bristolian to me and others here, but on a recent trip back I was told I didn't and was sounding "posh" :laugh: me posh! :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gbye grey sky Posted January 19, 2015 Author Share Posted January 19, 2015 I sound Bristolian to me and others here, but on a recent trip back I was told I didn't and was sounding "posh" :laugh: me posh! :laugh: Well, I think my daughter speaks posh most of the time (private schooling in Surrey for ya) though I don't say anything to her as I kinda like it. Won't last long though once she is in Oz. one of the reasons for recording voices as she will have a real laugh listening to it played back when she is older. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bound4Tassie Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 I haven't lived in AUS for 10 years but occasionally get people coming into work who ask me if I'm Australian! I have probably picked up bits of it from my husband ( Aussie) over the years but I don't think I sound Aussie! Funny thing is our Aussie family think my husband sounds like a pom now. He's definitely still got an accent but much more toned down than theirs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vickyplum Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 I had a very circular conversation with someone at work just before Xmas, with him asking if I was going home for the holidays etc. It took me a little while to twig that he thought "home" was Australia and then I was quite offended! Not because I don't like Australian accents, but because I want to sound British and was a little ticked off that I've obviously picked up some oddities from my OH without realising it... I think I sound boringly home counties but perhaps not! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacaranda Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Emigrated to Oz aged 9,spent 30 yrs there with various trips back to Oz,and I have an aussie accent. Not a strong one but people notice it.Wish I could get rid of it actually as I am continually asked about Australia and it gets pretty annoying. After being back in the UK for a few years,I am bored with having to tell people why I moved back here and so on so usually just cut people short now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atlas Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Lived in Australia as a child and still get asked if I'm Australian or sometimes Kiwi (my housemates are all Kiwi boys so I reckon I've picked up a few bits from them). Often get asked if I'm from SA despite never being there?! I blame my terrible accent on moving around a lot and going to international schools lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 It is where you are as a child that determines it. What you have up to about age 16 won't change that much after that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobj Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Had a pom criticise me on not having an english accent...Told the, er...person that I have been in Australia longer than he has been on Planet Earth...So, how come he has a thick London accent?? Cheers, Bobj. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pablo Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Like this(or disss:laugh:)i'd like to say,but i think my accents a fair bit stronger,or commoner :mad::twitcy: Drunk scouser(can't be me then:daydreaming:),obviously staying in his mates hotel room for free:laugh: [YOUTUBE]5u0JfNY_YIk[/YOUTUBE] Probs nearer to Carra,fwiw,most aussies i met in the short time there thought i was Irish or Scots,probably the same for others with regional accents,was hard work repeating myself sometimes tbh,but my fault for not slowing it down,which i did in the end [YOUTUBE]XSD9XF6S5BE[/YOUTUBE] #Tara,back to the footy!# Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest51810 Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Like this(or disss:laugh:)i'd like to say,but i think my accents a fair bit stronger,or commoner :mad::twitcy:Drunk scouser(can't be me then:daydreaming:),obviously staying in his mates hotel room for free:laugh: [YOUTUBE]5u0JfNY_YIk[/YOUTUBE] Probs nearer to Carra,fwiw,most aussies i met in the short time there thought i was Irish or Scots,probably the same for others with regional accents,was hard work repeating myself sometimes tbh,but my fault for not slowing it down,which i did in the end [YOUTUBE]XSD9XF6S5BE[/YOUTUBE] #Tara,back to the footy!# irish scouser.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 That is how Gerrard sounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest51810 Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 I don't even know how to describe how I sound.. many people have tried to do impressions :laugh: I hate hearing my voice in recordings. I think if I lived in Australia for quite a long time then I would pick up some sort of accent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 No you wouldn't Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest51810 Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 No you wouldn't I'll bow down to your superior knowledge of me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Its not about you. At 26 with a thick scottish accent you will never lose it now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest51810 Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Its not about you.At 26 with a thick scottish accent you will never lose it now. 24.. don't make me older than I am :tongue: Your maybe right but I do seem to pick up accents a little bit if im around someone with a different accent for a long time. I moved to Dumfries and I picked up a little bit from there. Im like a parrot haha. When I lived in England I came back with a proper English accent but I was only a 4 so that's why. I laughed when my mum told me about it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlight7 Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 I was from London so the Aussie accent wasn't heaps different. Most people think I was born here but another Londoner can pick my accent. My kids are all Aussie because they were born here or came over as babies. My youngest is 'posh aussie' so the others tell me! Not sure what that means. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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